The turn into the new year of 2023 provides a growing sense of anticipation and preparation for the biggest team sport event in the British Universities and Colleges Sport calendar – BUCS Big Wednesday. The event marks the culmination of the league season for university teams with over 50 finals played across 16 sports, and will once again be proudly hosted by the University of Nottingham.
With thousands of university sport teams taking part in the BUCS leagues every year, only the very best make it through to the BUCS Big Wednesday finals. The Championship finals see the top student Premier League teams in the United Kingdom battle it out to be overall National champion. In the Trophy competition, squads from the second tier of the BUCS leagues compete for the coveted Trophy Cup.
The 2023 finals will see Nottingham welcome hundreds of elite university athletes hoping to be claimed national champions, and will be a record fourth time hosting for the University following hugely successful events in 2018, 2019 and then for the return of the event after Coronavirus last year.
As a result, the brackets of knockout matches leading into the finals on BUCS Big Wednesday have become known as the #RoadToNottingham for our teams, with each victory taking them ever closer to glory in front of huge home crowds. We will be keeping a track of all of our #GreenandGold teams as they attempt to progress through the early rounds, with deep runs to the later stages enhancing excitement before finals day. Last year, there were 22 teams vying for glory, with 14 title wins marking the most successful BUCS Big Wednesday for the university.
University of Nottingham students will be able to cheer on any of our university teams that reach the finals with information around tickets to the event to be made available in due course. Last year there were over 4,000 attendees who created a raucous sell-out atmosphere across the six hub venues in the city, and we’re hugely looking forward to a similar landmark in 2023.
Whilst there will be a huge amount of effort on the pitch, there will also be a large operation to ensure the event is as successful as it has been in the past. This is achieved through the hard work of many student volunteers and you can help make this year’s event one of the best we’ve seen. University of Nottingham Sport are now recruiting for over 100 volunteers to be involved in the delivery of the event, with the window for applications open until Wednesday 1 February 2023.
With March’s BUCS Big Wednesday firmly on the horizon, Assistant Director of Sport Alex Perry said,
“Everyone at University of Nottingham Sport is working hard to ensure that BUCS Big Wednesday 2023 is once again a successful and memorable event. So many special moments have been created at this competition over the years and I know that our athletes and coaches are working hard to match the record achievements of last year.”
“The next few months will be a challenging and exciting time for our athletes as they give their upmost to reach their respective finals, and I wish all of our teams in contention the best of luck on the #RoadtoNottingham."
The University of Nottingham will welcome teams from across the UK to the Championship and Trophy finals in March 2023. For more information on BUCS Big Wednesday and to track our team and their results on the #RoadToNottingham please visit: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sport/whats-on/bucs-big-wednesday.aspx
Posted on Friday 20th January 2023